South actress Vijayashanthi today (December 7) joined the BJP after quitting the Congress. She had started her political career in 1997 with the BJP. She quit the party to join the Telangana Rashtra Samithi when there was a demand for a separate Telangana state. She was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009.
Vijayashanthi quit the TRS and joined the Congress in 2014, just before Andhra Pradesh was divided into two states — Andhra and Telangana. She has now returned to the BJP. She becomes the second actress to leave the Congress and join the BJP, the first being Khushboo Sundar.